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THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  THE 
PRIVILEGED 


BY 


A    RECONSTRUCTIONIST 


"  The  ideal  must  be  made  air  and  food  and  drink 
to  the  human  mind.  It  is  the  ideal  who  has  a  right 
to  say :     Take  of  it,  this  is  my  flesh,  this  is  my  blood." 

—VICTOR  HUGO. 


PUBLISHED  BY  COMMONWEAL  WORKERS 
231  E.  77th  St.,  New  York 


Single  Copy,  lOc. 

In  quantities,  6c.  a  copj^ 


BtSB  UBRkM 

THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  THE 
PRIVILEGED 


BY 


A    RECONSTRUCTIONIST 


"  The  ideal  must  be  made  air  and  food  and  drink 
to  the  human  mind.  It  is  the  ideal  who  has  a  right 
to  say :    Take  of  it,  this  is  my  flesh,  this  is  my  blood." 

—VICTOR  HUGO. 


PUBLISHED  BY  COMMONWEAL  WORKERS 
231   E.  77th  St.,  New  York 

Single  Copy,  10c. 
In  quantities,  6c.  a  copy 


PREFACE 


If,  after  the  perusal  of  the  following  pages,  the  reader 
should  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  society  in  which  he 
lives  is  like  an  illegal  poolroom  under  the  protection  of  the 
police,  let  him  not  be  discouraged,  but  rather  bring  forth  the 
best  that  is  within  him  to  work  for  a  nobler  society. 

The  above  comparison  befits  the  situation.  The  windows 
announce  the  sale  of  bird  seed,  tobacco  and  pigeons.  Upon 
entering,  though,  you  find  a  lot  of  square-chinned  gents  en- 
gaged in  betting  on  the  fortunes  of  the  people;  the  cues  in 
their  hands  are  the  faith  and  the  ignorance  of  the  masses;  the 
pigeons  sold  to  customers  are  caught  by  watchers  on  the  roof 
as  soon  as  a  buyer  gives  them  the  freedom  to  fly.  If  you  re- 
turn to  protest,  your  skull  is  broken  or,  if  the  dealers  are 
merciful,  you  are  ejected  with  threats  that  cannot  be  mistaken. 

The  writer  does  not  claim  that  he  has  said  the  best  that 
may  be  said  of  the  situation.  But  he  claims  that  he  uses  the 
best  in  his  abilities  to  arouse  the  reader  to  thinking  and  acting. 

Do  likewise. 

May,  1908. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2007 


http://archive.org/details/conspiracyofprivOOrecoiala 


THE  SITUATION. 

It  has  come  to  such  a  pass  in  this  land  of  the  free  that  any  utterance 
in  favor  of  freedom  is  regarded  a  crime  worse  than  the  breaking  of  the  ten 
commandments.  For  while  the  ten  commandments  were  given  in  an  advisory 
manner,  to  wit :  thou  shalt  or  thou  sh<iU  not,  the  statutes  on  our  penal 
codes  interdict  free  thought  and  free  action  in  a  compulsory  way,  to  wit : 
thou  must  or  thou  must  not.     .    .    . 

In  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  when  all  other  civilized  or  semi-civilized 
countries  have  moved  upward  to  higher  aspects  of  life,  our  country  has 
made  itself  famous  as  an  example  for  ignorant  legislature.  The  citizen 
either  is  incapable  of  participating  in  the  active  work  of  reconstruction  or 
is  made  indifferent  by  the  cunning  and  whimsical  actions  of  the  politicians, 
while  an  ever  increasing  army  of  officials  perplexes  and  rules  him.  Thus 
it  hapiiens  that  a  man  who  has  not  the  backing  of  an  influential  party  behind 
him,  to  save  his  personal  liberty  from  the  incumbency  of  jwlice  persecution 
must  lie  low  when  he  utters  a  word  of  warning  to  the  persecuted. 

Seemingly,  the  world  at  large  knows  better  the  value  of  our  inalienable 
rights  than  we  know  it  ourselves.  Dr.  Eeden,  the  Dutch  philanthropist  and 
sociologist,  in  a  lecture  he  delivered  in  New  York  City,  called  our  common- 
wealth a  Common  Misery.  But  less  noted  men  have  ridiculed  our  police- 
ridden  communities.  We,  though,  taking  examples  from  our  politicians, 
ttand  pat  and  do  not  learn  to  distinguish  between  benevolent  criticism  and 
malicious  slander. 

Just  now  we  are  going  through  a  very  crucial  point  in  the  evolution  of 
our  destiny.  But  destiny  is  not  what  our  rulers  are  pleased  to  make  of  the 
history  of  the  nation,  but  what  we  are  inclined  to  put  forward  by  either  our 
interest  in  the  make-up  of  our  social  and  political  relations,  or  our  indiffer- 
ence to  the  policies  of  our  friends  or  foes. 

Let  us  clearly  discern  between  the  needs  of  a  free  people  and  the  actions 
of  its  rulers.  Let  us,  then,  judge  the  words  and  actions  of  our  friends, 
and,  likewise,  our  enemies,  by  their  merits  or  demerits,  without  prejudice. 
Let  us  unite  in  proclaiming  our  inalienable  rights  for  happiness  and  general 
welfare,  and  in  condemning  the  pretenses  of  the  political  and  social  upstarts. 

For  we  may,  with  the  facts  confronting  us,  declare  that  the  affairs  of 
the  nation  are  not  governed  but  the  people  ruled.  The  question  foremost  in 
the  minds  of  the  so-called  administrators  is  not  how  to  promote  the  general 
welfare  of  the  people,  but  how  to  keep  the  majority  in  subjection  while  the 
minority  is  engaged  in  the  division  of  the  natural  wealth  of  the  land. 

It  matters  little  under  what  disguise  the  politics  of  this  minority  are 
shaping  themselves,  whether  under  republican,  or  democratic,  or  whatever 
cloak.  By  virtue  of  their  legal  entrenchments  they  hold  the  rest  of  the 
nation  in  subjection.  While  the  administration  of  the  national  affairs  until 
recently  was  entirely  under  the  domination  of  the  money  market,  the  ad- 
ministrators gaining  their  power  and  prestige  from  the  influence  of  funds 


lollected  by,  and  in  the  interest  of,  the  money  market,  it  gradually  developed 
.nto  semi-dictatorial  power  through  the  envious  strife  among  that  minority, 
through  the  imperialist  policy  of  ruling  a  people  without  its  consent,  through 
the  fortifying  conditions  of  a  greater  army  and  navy  until  well  nigh  56  per 
cent,  of  national  revenue  are  spent  for  military  purposes.  Hand  in  hand 
with  these  preparations  for  a  reactionary  mode  of  government  goes  the 
decline  of  the  popular  intelligence,  a  harder  struggle  for  existence  forcing 
multitudes  of  parents  to  send  their  half-starved  children  to  work  instead  of 
to  school,  impressing  upon  the  people  thus  made  indolent  and  hopeless  th« 
superstition  of  the  paternal  government,  the  influence  of  the  central  govern- 
ment to  fight  their  battles  against  the  aggressiveness  of  the  combined  forces 
of  corporations  and  legislatures. 

But  when  a  man  has  come  to  the  conclusion  that  he  no  longer  can  look 
after  his  own  affairs,  he  shall  soon  learn  that  the  help  he  employs  will  be- 
come his  master.  A  nation  consisting  of  men  who  deny  themselves  tht 
capability  of  doing  their  own  work,  learns  to  obey  the  commands  of  one  boss. 

Even  while  these  lines  are  being  penned,  a  high-handed  act  of  the  Postal 
Department  is  agitating  the  minds  of  all  fair-minded  people.  A  postmaster 
is  given  plenipotentiary  powers  in  disposing  of  literature  not  in  accord 
with  his  political  convictions  by  restricting  the  permit  of  second-class  matter. 
This  institutes  a  new  form  of  censorship  in  this  country,  the  equivalent  of 
which  could  only  be  found  in  Russia.  Monarchical  Europe,  with  the  exception 
of  the  latter,  does  not  interfere  with  the  press  in  the  resi>ective  countries. 
A  copy  containing  a  seditious  article  might  be  confiscated,  but  the  publica- 
tion as  such  is  not  interfered  with.  This  encroachment  upon  the  free  ex- 
pression of  one's  opinion  is  entirely  in  line  with  the  rest  of  limitations 
against  free  assemblage  and  free  speech,  and  only  a  sequel  to  other  objection- 
able amendments  to  the  constitution  enacted  since  the  inauguration  of  th« 
imperialist  i)olicy  begotten  by  the  evil  spirit  of  the  Hanna  Octopus.  Quick 
as  the  monstrous  development  of  governing  the  people  turned  into  ruling 
it,  from  disarming  the  populace  to  gagging  it,  we  may  with  due  conclusions 
await  the  formation  of  barefaced  despotism. 

THE  VASSALS  AND  THE  TRUSTS 

Take  away  the  interest  of  the  people  in  the  preservation  of  their  insti- 
tutions, and  the  downfall  of  the  country  is  a  foregone  conclusion.  Unite 
the  wealth  of  a  nation  into  the  hands  of  a  few,  and  the  people  become  apa- 
thetic to  the  domestic  or  international  affairs  of  their  rulers. 

Egypt  crumbled  into  dust  when  3  per  cent,  of  the  population  owned 
97  per  cent,  of  all  her  wealth. 

Babylon,  once  the  greatest  city  of  the  world,  fell,  when  2  per  cent,  of 
the  population  owned  everything  in  the  Empire,  while  the  i)eople  starved. 

^Vhen  Persia  ceased  to  exist,  the  land  belonged  to  1  per  cent,  of  tht 
entire  population. 

Among  eighteen  hundred  men  was  divided  the  vast  Empire  when  Rome 
was  taken  possession  of  by  semi-savage  conquerors. 

And  yet  we  remain  in  the  footsteps  of  these  nations,  shaping  the  laws 
in  their  fashion,  treating  the  i)eople  with  their  methods,  moulding  society 
in  their  forms.    Are  we  to  evade  their  fate  by  building  larger  navies,  keeping 


stronger  guards  in  our  cities  and  establishing  more  courts,  prisons,  alms- 
houses, and  insane  asylums? 

While  the  land  has  been  taken  avray  from  the  people  as  in  the  days  of  the 
ancient  countries  of  Asia  and  Europe,  a  new  factor  arose  in  our  days,  that 
took  the  industries  from  the  workers.  The  latter  find  themselves  in  a  situ- 
ation analogous  to  the  system  of  Feudalism  in  the  middle  ages.  Their  de- 
pendence is  such  that  they  must  feel  grateful  for  the  permit  to  toil,  for 
the  chance  of  thus  securing  a  livelihood  for  themselves  and  those  relying 
on  their  supix)rt. 

Homage  says  the  Treaties  of  Tenure  is  the  most  honorable  service  and 
the  most  humble  service  of  revenue  that  a  frank  tenant  may  do  to  his  lord, 
for  when  the  tenant  shall  make  homage  to  his  lord,  he  shall  be  ungirt  and 
his  head  uncovered,  and  his  lord  shall  sit  and  the  tenant  shall  kneel  before 
him  on  both  his  knees  and  hold  his  hands  jointly  together  between  the  hands 
of  his  lord,  and  shall  say  this :  I  become  your  man  from  this  day  on  forward, 
of  life  and  limb,  and  of  earthly  worship,  and  unto  you  shall  be  true  and 
faithful,  and  bear  your  faith  for  the  treatment  that  I  claim  to  hold  of  you, 
saving  the  faith  that  I  owe  to  the  sovereign  lord,  the  king;  and  then  the 
lord  so  sitting  shall  kiss  him. 

The  conditions  to-day  are  akin  to  those  of  the  middle  ages.  The  rela- 
tions of  the  tenant  to  his  lord  have  given  place  to  those  of  the  toiler  to  the 
possessor  of  money  and  material.  A  change  in  nomenclature — a  trust  for 
a  vassaldom,  a  wageearner  for  a  tenant,  a  President  for  a  King. 

The  cause  has  been  the  same — here  and  there,  to  wit :  The  power  of 
the  few,  the  subjection  of  the  many ;  the  growth  of  vast  estates,  the  ex- 
pansion of  poverty ;  the  subserviency  of  the  aristocracy  to  the  church,  or  vice 
versa,  and  the  ignorance  of  the  masses.  Serfdom  had  not  come  over  night ; 
it  was  gradually  develoi)ed.  The  tillers  of  the  soil,  at  first  only  tributary 
to  the  lords  holding  privileges  from  the  hands  of  the  king,  in  the  course  of 
time  were  robbed  of  their  soil  and  the  means  of  sustenance,  their  liberties 
remaining  at  the  mercy  of  the  king's  vassals.  The  privileged  aristocracy 
soon  became  arbitrary  masters.  The  king,  to  fortify  himself  against  the 
usurpations  of  his  former  vassals,  had  to  appeal  for  aid  to  the  towns  them- 
selves hard  pressed  by  the  marauding  conquerors.  But  both,  the  king  and 
the  vassals,  were  usurpers ;  the  king  had  risen  to  power  through  conquest, 
and  his  followers  through  his  indebtedness  to  them.  It  was  a  question  of 
might  and  privilege,  of  privilege  and  might,  and  by  rendering  assistance  to 
the  king,  the  towns  did  not  mitigate  the  lot  of  the  tillers  of  the  soil. 

The  system  of  government  favoring  the  possessors  of  property  and  pro- 
tecting their  interests — as  the  basic  form  of  a  society  thus  organized — united 
in  the  hands  of  •a  comparatively  few  the  land  and  the  industries  of  the  coun- 
try. The  great  majority  of  the  people  are,  if  able  to  enter  a  contract  for 
work,  dependent  on  these  iwssessors  of  money  axid  material.  They  are  the 
bearers  of  the  heaviest  burdens  of  taxation.  For  whatever  taxes  the  State 
might  impose  on  the  possessors  of  the  means  of  sustenance,  are  by  them  in 
a  higher  ratio  exacted  from  their  dependencies ;  so  that  the  real  burden  of 
taxation  falls  mainly,  although  indirectly,  on  the  shoulders  of  the  poor. 

Industrial  enterprise  and  governmental  interference  have  been  of  mu- 
tual assistance  to  each  other.  The  civil  war  and  the  Spanish-American 
war  opened  new  avenues  of  exploitation.    After  each  crisis  plutocracy  gained 


a  stronger  bold  on  the  wealth  of  the  nation.  And  in  the  selection  of  a  Chief- 
Magistrate  Wall  Street  became  the  main  advisor.  Thus  a  mutual  under- 
standing had  been  reached,  high  finance  assit^ting  the  strengthening  of  the 
central  power,  the  administration  favoring  exploitations  at  home  and  in  the 
colonies  by  transforming  national  and  international  xwlicies.  The  grip  on 
the  majority  of  the  people  tightened  until  they  awoke  one  day  to  face  a 
panic.  The  people  have  not  learned  that  history  repeated  itself ;  that  the 
crisis  marked  a  stepping  stone  in  the  evolution  of  the  country's  history. 
The  Trusts,  the  modern  Vassals,  had  become  all-powerful,  and,  on  the  other 
band,  the  Administration,  to  save  its  face,  was  forced  to  show  its  authority. 
For  the  Trusts  to  become  the  absolute  masters  of  the  situation  it  was  neces- 
sary to  unite  the  banks,  the  means  of  circulation,  under  their  domination 
without  fear  of  any  interference  by  the  government  and  with  the  sanction  of 
Ck>ngress.  On  the  other  hand,  the  lust  of  power  and  conquest  had  seized 
upon  the  administration  and  bureaucracy.  Favoritism,  the  menace  of  all 
republics,  and  tlie  thorn  on  the  declining  path  of  every  government,  marked 
every  utterance  of  the  highest  courts  and  foremost  administrators. 

The  people,  finding  themselves  in  this  maze  of  adversities,  clamoring 
for  the  prosecution  of  the  barefaced  criminals  at  their  throats,  are  ready  to 
reach  the  ear  of  the  man  on  horseback,  always  present  on  the  precipice  of  a 
nation's  history.  By  the  old  methods  of  catering  to  the  brutal  instincts  of 
the  mob  or  of  sounding  some  meaningless  high-tuned  phrases,  the  man  on 
horseback  is  trying  to  endear  himself  in  the  hearts  of  the  unthinking  masses. 
And  thus,  as  in  the  days  of  the  feudal  system,  the  dominating  political  influ- 
ence is  seeking  to  unite  with  those  directly  threatened  by  the  lords  of  exploita- 
tation,  in  the  hope  of  establishing  a  preeminent  position  of  its  own,  that 
would  tend  to  eliminate  any  signal  opposition  to  its  policies.  And,  as  in  the 
day  of  medieval  feudalism,  the  sacrifices  by  the  oppressed  people  for  the 
sake  of,  seemingly,  assured  protection  against  the  vassals  of  special  priv- 
ileges, will  not  bring  relief  of  their  burden,  but  is  calculated  to  strengthen 
the  iron  hand  of  the  king. 

The  period  of  depression  under  which  we  are  now  laboring  is  the  force- 
ful expression  of  this  fight  for  supremacy.  Who  should  rule,  is  the  ques- 
tion, and  not,  how  are  the  affairs  of  the  country  to  be  governed?  Shall  the 
corporations  favoring  the  continuance  of  subjecting  the  people  to  utter  de- 
pendence upon  them,  frame  the  laws,  as  heretofore,  with  a  view  to  closing 
all  channels  of  individual  enterprise,  or  shall  the  federal  government  inau- 
gurate a  new  mode  of  rule  by  which  one  person  may,  first  and  last,  direct 
the  means  which  strengthen  his  hand  at  the  helm? 

The  influences  favoring  the  latter  possibility  are  spread  all  over  the 
country.  An  aristocracy  following  in  the  trail  of  federal  absolutism  has 
grown  from  the  class  of  rich  idlers,  that  for  one  and  more  generations 
has  been  aping  the  fancies  of  Asiatic  or  European  nobilities.  Other  families 
are  brought  up  in  traditions  of  militarism  and  exclusion,  fostering  snubbery" 
and  autocracy.  And  the  great  army  of  government  employees,  steadily  in- 
creasing in  numbers  with  the  establishment  of  new  offices,  are,  as  servants 
always  will  be,  tools  of  their  masters. 


PREJUDICE  AND  PERSECUTION. 

It  is  self-explanatory  that  with  the  growth  of  power  a  government 
abrogate  the  rights  and  the  liberties  of  the  people.  For  nothing  could  bet- 
ter stay  the  progress  of  whim  than  the  free  expression  of  opinions.  What- 
ever, therefore,  parades  under  the  banner  of  refonn  emanating  from  the 
fertile  mind  of  a  ruling  i>ower,  is  really  repression  or  persecution.  And  in 
the  review  of  those  reforms  wrought  by  the  present  administrator  one  must 
always  read  persecution  for  reform. 

"One  of  the  most  serious  things,"  said  Chancellor  Day,  November, 
1907,  "for  us  to  consider  in  regard  to  the  administration  of  President  Roose- 
velt, is  the  fact  that  he  has  really  accomplished  no  reforms." 

He  is  not  quite  right.  He  forgot  that  reform  spelled  persecution.  The 
hysterical  messages  in  regard  to  immigration  gave  birth,  ultimately,  to  the 
most  stupid  laws  manufacturing,  from  year  to  year,  a  growino;  mass  of 
men  without  a  country  within  the  boundaries  of  the  United  States.  In 
their  wake  followed  curtailments  of  free  speech,  free  press,  free  assemblage. 
The  press,  to  a  great  extent,  has  raised  a  howl  against  the  immigrant,  like 
a  pack  of  dogs  at  the  command  of  a  hunter.  Some  of  the  influential  news- 
papers of  the  country — and  it  is  not  necessary  to  name  them,  so  well  are 
they  known  for  their  betrayal  of  peace  at  home — are  openly  charged  with 
being  in  the  pay  of  the  Russian  Government,  and,  at  the  behest  of  that 
mediaeval  land  of  prejudice  and  persecution,  to  work  in  the  interests  of  a 
foreign  power.  If  conspiracy  is  charged  to  men  who  frankly  dare  oppose 
the  whimsical  ravings  of  a  vain  mind  or  the  conscienceless  pens  of  ill-begotten 
legislatures,  what  should  be  said  of  the  men  who  have  taken  their  oflSces  on 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  principles  underlying  this  government  and  who 
with  stealthy  methods  promote  the  welfare  of  the  few,  or  of  newspapers  in 
secret  coalition  with  foreign  rulers?  What  should  they  be  charged  with 
who  by  suppression  and  persecution  create  strife  and  hatred  in  the  country, 
appealing  as  it  were  to  the  lowest  passions  of  ignorance  in  whipping  one 
class  of  the  working  people  against  the  other?  In  creating  in  the  minds 
of  the  native  citizens  prejudice  against  new  arrivals?  In  thus  fostering 
the  barbarities  of  prejudices,  superstition,  and  ignorance?  Until  less  than  a 
decade  ago  nobody  dared  to  question  the  immigrants'  rights  to  our  shores 
for  his  poverty  or  illiteracy.  With  what  object  in  view  have  the  new  regu- 
lations governing  citizenship  been  instituted?  Surely  not  in  order  to  keep 
the  toilers  out,  the  competitors  in  the  field  of  labor?  For  if  this  had  been 
the  object  of  the  administration,  our  officials  abroad,  taking  notice  of  the 
luring  announcements  of  prosperity  in  America,  as  advertised  by  the  agents 
of  our  manufacturers,  could  easily  prevent  the  influx  of  immigration  by 
exposing  the  conspirators  abroad.  Rather  may  the  object  be  found  in  the 
attempt  of  the  dominating  influences,  to  divide  in  their  country  the  popula- 
tion against  itself,  to  cause  strife  here  among  the  working  class  in  general, 
and  the  different  nationalities,  in  particular.  For  the  greater  the  strife 
among  the  people,  the  more  justified  seems  a  show  of  force  by  the  govern- 
ment. But  the  tighter  the  grip  of  force,  the  weaker  sounds  the  cry  for 
liberty. 

It  is  charged  upon  the  immigrants  that  assaults  on  persons  in  exalted 


positious  have  been  instigated  and  committed  by  liiein.  Yet,  the  history  of 
the  assassinations  in  this  country  shows  clearly  that  the  committors  of  those 
untoward  acts  were  all  bom  and  bred  in  the  confines  of  the  United  States. 
Johnson,  who  tried  to  kill  President  Jackson,  Booth,  the  assasin  of  Lincoln, 
Guiteau,  who  murdered  Garfield,  Czolgocz,  who  fired  the  deadly  shots  at  Mc- 
Kinley,  Prendergast,  who  took  it  upon  himself  to  mow  down  Mayor  Harri- 
son, were  all  born  in  the  North  American  Republic  and  educated  in  our 
schools,  as  were  the  men  who  are  directly  or  indirectly  responsible  for  the 
death  of  Governor  Goebel,  of  Kentucky. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  is  there  any  justification  for  laying  violence  at 
the  threshold  of  the  immigrants,  was  there  any  lack  of  violence  in  the  United 
States?  Truly,  there  must  be  another  reason  for  inciting  popular  prejudice 
against  the  newcomers,  and,  I  fear,  a  reason  at  once  revolting  in  its  con- 
ception, and  diabolical  in  its  performance. 

The  strategy  of  every  foe  of  Truth,  in  dealing  with  adversities,  centres 
on  the  golden  rule  of  the  Roman  craftsman.  Divide  et  impera.  Gain  com- 
mand by  causing  strife,  is  to-day  no  less  the  acme  of  wisdom  in  the  actions 
of  intrigue  than  it  was  two  thousand  years  ago.  It  is  necessary  to  keep 
the  working  men  in  distrust  of  each  other.  The  distrust  is  the  dam  that 
keeps  the  flood  of  dissatisfaction  from  storming  the  fortress  of  capitalistic 
outrages.  One  part  of  the  population  is  being  inflated  with  its  own  superior- 
ity, suspicion  is  awakened  in  another,  both  are  divided  against  one  another 
by  exalting  the  virtues  of  one  and  decrying  the  shortcomings  of  the  other. 

What  the  workmen  might  not  know  is  well  understood  by  the  agents 
and  counselors  of  the  powers  that  be.  While  proportionately  the  organized 
forces  of  the  workmen  are  larger  in  numbers  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  the 
European  workmen  have  a^  clearer  understanding  of  the  questions  of  the 
day ;  while  the  Americans  are  brought  up  to  play  with  thoughts  and  things, 
or,  as  Judge  Gaynor  recently  remarked,  to  think  superficially,  the  Europeans 
excel  in  earnestness,  the  only  key  to  thoroughness.  In  quoting  the  preamble 
to  the  Constiution  of  the  Carpenters  and  Joiners  we  desire  to  show  the  con- 
servative view  of  labor  at  home,  against  whom  our  courts  are  so  ready  with 
injunctions,  and  our  newspapers  with  invectives : 

"To  rescue  our  trade  from  the  level  to  which  it  has  fallen,  and,  by 
mutu<il  effort,  to  raise  ourselves  to  that  position  in  society  to  tchich  we 
are  justly  entitled;  to  cultivate  a  feeling  of  friendship  among  the  craft,  and 
to  elevate  the  moral,  intellectual,  and  social  conditions  of  all  journeymen  and 
carpenters.  It  is,  furthermore,  our  object  to  assist  each  other  to  secure  em- 
ployment;  to  furnish  aid  in  cases  of  death  or  permanent  disability,  and 
for  mutual  relief,  and  other  benevolent  purposes."  (Convention  of  B.  C.  &  J.. 
Chicago,   III.,  August  8  1881.) 

While  the  workmen  in  the  United  States  are  mainly  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  their  individual  crafts,  as  shown  above,  their  European  brethren 
take,  as  a  class,  an  af-tivc  part  in  affairs  political  and  social  with  a  more  or 
leas  thorough  understanding  of  the  ideals  of  mankind  at  large.  While  the 
leaders  of  our  workmen  are  fraternizing  with  the  oppressors  of  the  toilers, 
in  Europe  such  actions  would  be  looked  upon  with  great  suspicion.  While 
for  some  time  past  it  has  been  the  tendency  in  the  progressive  states  of 
Europe  to  extend  the  solitary  .strike  of  a  craft  into  a  sympathetic  strike  of 
the  industry,  or  a  general  strike  of  many  or  all  industries,  quite  in  confor- 


mity  with  the  growing  mutuality  of  the  manufacturers'  associations,  the  or- 
ganized workers  at  home  rely,  in  most  cases,  on  their  meagre  purses  or  the 
still  poorer  sympathy  of  the  public.  So  long  as  antiquated  methods  in  deal- 
ing with  the  industrial  problem  are  followed,  workmen  have  no  chance  of 
getting  to  what  they  are  justly  entitled.  Capital,  on  the  contrary,  with  the 
aid  of  the  civil  and  military  authorities,  may  dictate  its  terms  as  long  as  the 
individual  craft  is  abandoned  in  its  struggle  by  other  branches  directly  or  in- 
directly related  to  the  cause  of  discontentment. 

And  this  is  the  reason  why  the  laws  now  governing  the  regulations  of 
immigration  and  citizenship  are  made  to  work  in  a  way  to  persecute  th« 
thinking  and  observing  element  among  the  new  arrivals,  and  not  to  exclude 
competitors  on  the  market.  This  is  the  reason  why  men.  of  convictions  ad- 
verse to  the  interests  of  plutocracy  are  singled  out  to  pay  the  penalty  for 
untoward  acts  committed  by  others  that  are  strangers  to  them  in  conviction 
and  action. 

Repression  or  suppression  do  not  prevent ;  persecution  does  not  reform. 
They  force  the  suppressed  and  persecuted  to  methods  of  greater  secrecy,  and 
beget  hatred.  Is  such  a  policy  advisable?  Or  is  it  rather  desirable,  in 
dealing  with  any  kind  of  opposition,  to  act  wisely  and  frankly  with  the 
arguments  of  nobler  examples  and  the  knowledge  of  the  need  of  the 
opposition? 

Every  now  and  then  new  opinions  governing  labor  and  capital  emanate 
from  our  tribunals  of  justice.  Every  now  and  then  the  courts  are  appealed 
to  in  an  endeavor  to  fight  objectionable  legislatiat).  But  as  such  proceedings 
are  a  question  of  money  and,  quite  often,  of  influence,  labor  is  mostly  de- 
feated and  capital  triumphant.  In  their  helplessness  the  workmen  turn  to 
petitioning  Congress,  or  even  to  appealing  to  the  President.  They  do  not 
realize  that  such  appeals  weaken  the  cause  of  independence.  But  paternal- 
ism, however  hopeless,  seems  more  preferable  to  the  hungry  man  than  star- 
vation. And  thus  it  happens  that  the  very  forces  whose  well-being  depend! 
on  a  decentralized  democracy,  are  working  toward  strengthening  the  force* 
of  centralization,  arming  the  hands  of  an  individual  with  concentrated  powar, 
or,  in  other  words,  popularizing  autocracy  through  paternalism. 

MILITARISM. 

The  popular  man  on  horseback  has  always  rested  his  position  on  arms. 
The  greater  a  one-man-power,  the  more  visible  the  show  of  arms.  Where 
democracy  is  on  the  decline,  militarism  is  on  the  increase.  And  the  differ- 
ence between  the  citizen  of  the  United  States  and  the  subject  of  Russia 
soon  becomes  one  only  in  name. 

It  cannot  be  argued  in  defense  of  military  prowess  that  this  hemisphere 
must  protect  itself  against  a  possible  aggression  from  Asia  or  Europe.  No 
power  on  the  earth  would  dream  of  attacking  the  United  States  so  long  as 
the  people  had  any  liberties  to  defend.  And  no  enemy  attacks  a  country 
without  an  assured  possibility  in  bis  knowledge  of  conditions,  of  defeating 
a  nation.  Armies  might  defeat  armies,  but  not  nations.  Rome  fell  because 
it  was  divided  against  itself,  and  the  great  mass  of  the  people  had  no  interest 
in   the   preservation   of   the   Empire.      The   Teutons,   thoroughly   awakened. 


were  victorious  in  their  struggle  against  Home,  because  their  fight  meant 
the  liberties  of  their  homes  and  person.  China  would  be  a  great  and  noble 
commonwealth  if  the  reigning  dynasty  had  not  put  to  sleep  the  intelligence 
of  the  people.  Turkey,  built  on  blood,  crumbled  to  pieces  by  persecuting  the 
people  living  under  the  dominion  of  the  Half-Moon.  Spain,  intolerant  in 
her  persecution  of  freedom  of  thought  and  specih.  in  spitf  of  hor  military 
prowess,  is  seething  with  discontent  and  lying  in  exhaustion.  But  when  the 
France  of  the  Kings  was  devastated  by  the  English  conquerors,  the  people 
rose  to  free  themselves  and,  not  relying  on  the  royal  armies,  drove  the 
English  from  the  shores  of  their  country.  And  again,  after  the  defeat  of 
Napoleon,  when  the  united  armies  of  Euroi>e  were  overrunning  French  soil, 
the  irregular  forces  of  the  people  combated  the  regular,  well-drilled  old 
warriors  of  Russia,  England  and  Prussia.     And  our  own  history? 

A  nation  whose  intelligence  is  kept  awake  and  who  has  any  cause  for 
nurturing  a  love  for  the  country,  cannot  be  conquered,  though  the  regular 
armies,  fighting  because  they  must,  and  not  because  they  want,  may  be 
defeated. 

Militarism  is,  therefore,  only  an  accompanyment  to  restrictions  on 
liberty,  and  a  precursor  to  despotism.  It  is  not  only  no  safeguard  against 
any  aggression  from  abroad,  but  a  steady  menace  to  civic  justice  at  home. 
Especially  when  the  majority  of  the  population  are  not  allowed  to  bear 
arms,  an  erratic  official  in  an  administration  that  grew  strong  upon  a  suc- 
cession of  limitations  on  free  speech,  on  the  free  expression  of  the  people, 
might,  following  the  examples  given  in  ancient  and  modern  history,  use 
the  military  institution  for  aggressions  on  the  civic  rights  of  his  opposition. 

In  fact,  where  military  preparations  are  made  on  a  large  scale,  the 
government  eo  ipso  signifies  its  distrust  of  the  people.  But  where  the 
people  can  no  longer  be  trusted  to  uphold  their  institutions,  the  authorities 
must  have  acted  in  a  manner  deserving  of  the  suspicion  of  the  people.  The 
government,  then,  surrounds  itself  with  defenders  of  its  policies 
and  not  with  defenders  of  the  will  of  the  people.  And  if 
it  be  argued  that  the  people  acquiesce  in  the  plans  of  their  govern- 
ment, then  may  it  be  said  that  the  people  have  been  brought  up  in  aimless 
acquiescence  of  the  paternalism  of  blindly  chosen  superiors.  If  the  minds 
of  the  people  must  be  supported  by  those  elected  to  office,  the  lack  of  self- 
reliance  signifies  the  inability  to  elect. 

But,  if  a  duty  there  be,  it  is  the  duty  of  society  to  make  man  self- 
reliant,  so  he  may  not  become  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  the  cunning. 
Procreation  itself  is  only  in  so  far  to  be  welcomed  as  it  evolves  a  noble 
addition  to  the  pride  of  man.  And  with  the  full  development  of  the  faculties 
of  his  species,  man  assumes  the  work  of  selection  with  self-reliance  and  ease. 

For,  though  it  has  often  been  cited  and  in  various  ways,  it  must  be 
always  remembered :  Man  is  not  born  for  government,  but  government  is  an 
artificial  structure  erected  by  man.  Man  is  more  sacred  a  thing  than 
government,  and  government  is  sanctified  or  condemned  by  the  happiness 
or  the  misery  of  the  people.  A  government  that  rests  in  doubtful  peace 
on  force,  is  not  the  government  by  the  people,  but  by  the  few,  and  is  not  apt 
to  instill  into  the  minds  of  the  masses  a  love  which  alone  is  the  safeguard 
of  a  country's  peace. 


Militarism,  ttie  armed  force,  means  violence  sanctified  by  law.  But  law 
ought  not  to  sanctify  violence  in  any  form  since  it  condemns  violence  as  a 
menace  to  civic  justice.  TTie  law,  therefore,  that  sanctifies  violence  as  a 
governmental  institution,  is  only  pretending  to  abhor  violence  so  long  as  it 
justifies  the  same  thing  in  a  certain  body  of  men.  If  for  the  sake  of  defense 
the  knowledge  of  the  use  of  arms  be  essential,  no  body  of  men  should  be  ex- 
empt from  learning  how  to  use  them  and  from  possessing  them.  But  to 
disarm  the  population  at  large  and  keep  a  fighting  force  in  their  midst, 
must  arouse  the  fears  and  suspicions  of  the  observer. 

CHURCH  AND  FREE  THOUGHT. 

Militarism  is  being  fostered  by  the  very  institutions  that  profess  to 
have  at  heart  the  uplifting  of  man's  soul.  The  minds  of  the  children  are 
inculcated  with  the  germ  of  militarism  within  the  limits  of  ground  that  is 
supposed  to  be  made  holy  by  words  of  the  fellowship  of  man  and  the  god- 
liness of  love.  The  churches  of  various  denominations  are  resounding  with 
discords  of  bugle  calls,  with  fife  and  drum.  It  has  become  a  common  usage 
for  the  authorieties  in  the  various  churches  to  di-aw  the  children  into  their 
folds  by  composing  drilling  companies  and  dressing  the  boys  in  the  uniforms 
of  soldiers.  Thus,  instead  of  directing  the  young  minds  to  nobler  activities, 
the  lowest  temptations  of  savagery  are  given  license  to  unfold  to  flaming 
passions.  While  the  education  of  the  children  demands  the  abhorrence  of 
violence,  the  formation  of  these  drilling  brigades  aids  in  stifling  the  charitable 
tendencies  in  the  nature  of  budding  humanity. 

With  superstition  and  prejudice  to  contend  with  from  infancy,  man's 
development  is  being  hamjiered  and  his  intellect  chained.  But  our  minds 
must  be  freed  in  order  to  make  the  forces  of  nature,  known  or  to  be  dis- 
covered, subservient  to  the  needs  of  man,  whereas  the  blind  belief  in  the 
doctrines  of  the  church  makes  for  the  subserviencj-  of  our  needs  and  thoughts 
to  fear  of  natural  phenomena.  Fatalism  is  the  logical  result  from  the  teach- 
ings of  doctrinary  belief,  and  religious  mania  besets  the  reasoning  power 
at  all  times  when  natural  phenomena  are  explained  by  supernatural  or  un- 
natural interference.  The  philosophy  of  Buddhism  in'  the  hands  of  a  priest- 
hood became  no  less  a  flageUa  on  the  intellect  of  the  people  than  the  super- 
stitions of  mediaeval  Europe.  The  search  for  truth  alone  frees  the  intel- 
lect, and  the  knowledge  of  human  achievements  and  of  the  natural  evolution 
of  things  is  the  only  instrument  able  to  withstand  the  assaults  of  a  priest- 
hood forever  working  on  a  science  of  superstition  wherewith  the  people  are 
kept  groping  in  the  dark. 

The  Rev.  John  J.  Glennon,  Archbishop  of  St.  Louis,  in  attacking  the 
schools  and  universities,  made  this  bid  for  notoriety : 

"The  philosophy  taught  in  your  schools  and  universities  today  is  just 
as  hrutal  as  it  is  repugnant.  This  philosophy  of  evolution,  emanating  from 
the  brain  of  Darwin  and  Spencer,  makes  for  brutality  and  retards  progress. 
What  is  the  use  of  struggling  if  there  is  nothing  to  be  attained?  Where  is 
there  an  appearance  of  charity  in  this  system?  The  strong  succeed  and  the 
weak  perish. 

Evolution  teaches  us  that  environments  shape  the  nature  of  man,  and 
that  man  in  society  is  responsible  for  the  shaping  of  environments.     Evolu- 


tion,  therefore,  excludes  the  fatalism  of  blind  belief,  auC  opens  the  secrets 
of  natural  phenomena.  It  bids  us  strive  for  environments  that  may  fully 
develop  the  human  intellect  and  enthrone  the  noble  and  just  aspirations  of 
the  brotherhood  of  mankind.  It  teaches  us  that  progress  is  retarded  by  the 
ignoble  interference  by  the  enemies  of  truth,  that  while  no  species  destroys  its 
own  kind,  man  is  forever  kept  in  artificial  environments  to  struggle  against 
his  own  kind,  that  through  the  interference  of  brutal  environments  man  ia 
not  permitted  to  develop  along  the  lines  of  least  resistance. 

Evolution  would  make  man  self-reliant ;  artificial  interference  by  the 
State  or  clergy  would  keep  him,  bodily  and  intellectually,  dependent. 

Are  the  Sunday-schools  not  turned  into  gloomy  chambers  of  superstition 
and  prejudice?  The  minds  of  minors  are  filled  with  false  illustrations 
of  the  ideals  of  other  denominations  or  humane  associations.  In  explanation 
of  the  severe  task  undertaken  by  their  priests,  Catholic  teachers  serve  their 
pupils  with  horrid  tales  of  their  experiences.  In  treating  on  the  subject  of 
Free  Masonry,  a  Sister  gives  the  following  narrative : 

A  priest  is  captured  in  the  dead  of  night  by  a  delegation  of  that  brother- 
hood, who  ask  him  to  come  with  them  to  take  the  confession  of  one  of  their 
confreres.  After  walking  a  short  distance  they  shove  him  into  a  waiting 
carriage,  blindfold  and  chain  him  and  drive  with  him,  in  zig-zag  movements, 
through  the  winding  streets,  then  get  on  a  ferryboat,  and  finally  land  across 
a  water  at  some  unknown  destination,  where  he  is  taken  to  a  big  hall. 
Upon  being  released  from  chain  and  kerchief  he  sees  himself  in  the  midst  of 
rough  and  silent  men  and  surrounded  by  walls  covered  with  crossbones,  etc. 
At  last  the  priest  is  left  alone  with  an  old  man  who  confesses  that  he  must 
die  because  he  did  not  obey  the  commands  of  his  brothers  in  Free  Masonry, 
to  commit  murders,  although  the  lot  had  fallen  to  him.     .      .      .     Horrors ! 

Such  are  the  means  wherewith  Free  Thought  is  to  be  destroyed. 

And  Free  Thought?  While  church  property  is  exempt  from  taxes, 
while  church  authorities  are  given  every  facility  to  express  themselves  and 
to  influence  communities,  while  the  churches  are  accumulating  riches  in 
investments  and  land,  while  their  slanders  are  repeated  by  the  press  and 
their  prejudices  are  made  the  keynote  in  legislative  repressions,  while  th« 
infamous  Oxford  movement  is  being  tried  in  underhand  manner  in  thit 
country.  Free  Thought,  all  Thought  not  in  accord  with  so-called  religioua 
teachings,  is  at  the  mercy  of  the  policeman's  club,  and  may  be  prohibited 
if  a  police  commissioner  or  a  postmaster  deem  it  improper. 

The  Rev.  Moore,  during  the  Prohibitionists'  campaign,  threatened 
violence  to  the  opponents  of  prohibition  in  a  blood-curdling  language ;  but 
the  authorities  did  not  interfere  with  either  Rev.  Moore  nor  the  campaign. 
Mining  workers  expressed  their  intention  to  strike,  and,  against  the  protest 
of  a  town,  except  the  mining  lords,  the  President  ordered  troops  to  the 
scene  of  dispute,  although  violence  by  the  workmen  was  neither  shown  nor 
feared. 

Why,  then,  do  the  civil  authorities  aid  the  Church  in  its  struggle  with 
the  ideals  of  advanced  thinkers  or,  if  you  please,  with  its  opponents?  Why 
are  liberal  or  radical  associations  and  individuals  not  given  the  freedom  to  ex- 
press their  opinions  and  criticisms  in  halls  made  available  for  such  purposes 
and  freed  from  taxes?     Why  are  radical  men  not  permitted  to  use  the  open 


squares  and  the  highways  of  our  towns  for  the  presenting  to  the  authorities 
— who,  by  the  way,  are  only  suffered  by  the  people,  and  not  God-given — 
of  the  protest  and  decision  of  the  masses? 

Supreme  Court  Justice  John  W.  Gofif  stigmatizes  the  character  of  the 
police — that  are  nowadays  made  the  masters  of  the  public — in  the  followinc; 
words,  spoken  April  27,  to  the  members  of  the  Riverside  and  Morningside 
Heights  Associations : 

The  evil  in  the  force  is  largely  of  our  own  creating.  The  department 
is  the  creation  of  the  citizens  and  they  have  created  what  they  have.  The 
police  force  of  Neio  York  to  day  is  virtually  an  oathhound  secret  society. 
Just  think  of  it!  Nearly  10,000  men  leagued  in  a  secret  organization,  th'J 
real  object  of  which  is  not  the  performance  of  duty 

We  find  every  grade  organized  from  the  patrolman  up  to  and  including 
the  inspectors.  Each  grade  has  its  own  society,  the  ostensible  object  of 
which  is  sick  benefit  and  the  burial  of  needy  members.  If  we  search  the 
records  of  the  Legislature  at  Albany  and  the  Board  of  Aldermen  in  New 
York,  we  shall  find  that  the  real  objects  are  the  promotion  of  the  interests 
of  individuals  without  regard  to  the  performance  of  duty. 

But  Mr.  Goff  is  wrong  in  saying  that  the  citizen  is  responsible  for  the 
corruption  in  the  police  force.  The  people  have  no  say  in  the  matter.  They 
do  not  elect  the  officers  or  patrolmen.  Corruption  could  only  be  stamped 
out  with  a  blow  at  centralization.  Only  when  the  citizens  of  a  given  terri- 
tory will  elect  from  their  own  midst,  from  their  residential  or  mercantile 
neighborhood,  men  of  their  own  acquaintance  for  vigilance  duty  in  their 
respective  parts  of  a  locality,  only  with  decentralization  may  a  greater 
security  of  life  and  property  be  reached. 

The  average  citizen  has  no  confidence  in  the  police,  no  matter  how  much 
it  may  be  praised  by  newspapers  of  the  moral  worth  of  the  Evening  Tele- 
gram. Some  tenements  from  the  basement  to  top  floors,  of  sections  of  Xew 
York  City,  have  been  burglarized  by  day  and  night,  and  only  a  very  few 
robberies  have  been  reported  to  the  police,  for  the  reason  that  it  was  of  no 
avail  to  appeal  to  the  protectors  of  property  unless  you  caught  the  thief, 
or  have  the  means  to  engage  private  detectives. 

And  these  secret  societies  are  the  arbiters  of  justice.  Said  Justice 
Gaynor  of  Brooklyn  before  the  People's  Forum  in  New  Rochelle : 

Who  has  the  right  to  say  that  the  people  of  New  York  may  not  peacably 
assemble  for  discussion?  That  right  is  guaranteed  under  the  Constitution. 
Some  years  ago  I  saw  a  big  Socialist  gathering  under  a  red  flag  in  a  public 
park  in  Edinburgh,  with  not  a  policeman  in  sight.  Were  such  a  gathering 
attempted  in  Central  Park  the  assemblers  would  have  their  heads  knocked 
off  by  the  police  in  less  than  half  an  hour. 

What  an  uproar  would  result  if  the  police  were  to  enter  without  warrant 
the  home  of  some  Supreme  Court  justice  in  Manhattan  and  search  out  his 
closet  skeletons  and  his  household  goods!  But  last  night  the  police  invaded 
in  that  unlawful  manner  the  house  of  ten  poor  persons  in  the  oity,  and  the 
outrage  has  attracted  no  attention. 

I  warn  you,  all  of  you,  that  if  you  allow  the  humblest  citizen's  con- 
stitutional rights  to  be  invaded  in  this  way,  the  time  may  come,  wnll  come, 
sooner  or  later,  when  your  otcn  home  rights  loill  be  invaded  in  like  manner. 


But  the  noblest  struggle  in  which  man  may  engage  is  the  fight  for 
freedom,  for  truth,  the  liberation  of  the  intellect  from  prejudice,  fear  and 
superstition;  for  the  mother  of  toleration,  of  peace  and  general  veil-being. 
Despotism  reigns  through  fear,  and  the  tyranny  of  the  Church  is  at  the 
beck  and  call  of  the  oppressive  factors  in  a  community,  and  it  is  only  natural 
that  the  police  and  the  State's  attorneys,  in  reciprocation  of  the  aid  ren- 
dered by  Church  authorities,  bend  their  energies  on  persecuting  free  think- 
ing men  instead  of  looking  after  the  criminals,  in  the  lowest  and  highest 
strata  of  society,  who  rob  the  purse  of  the  poor  and  the  treasures  of  the 
commoniceahh. 

SOCIALISM  AND  LAW. 

So  long  as  there  are  no  better  arguments  presented  for  the  inter- 
ference by  Church  and  State  with  the  work  of  liberals  and  radicals 
than  the  vague  statements  that  their  teachings  are  breeding  crime  against 
society,  the  restrictions  on  their  utterances,  the  persecution  of  their  agitators, 
is  nothing  but  an  admission  of  the  weakness  of  the  position  of  Church 
and  State.  The  agitation  of  both,  attended  often  with  great  brutality, 
in  slandering  their  adversaries  and  bodily  harming  them,  Ls  an  admission 
of  the  weak  ground  whereon  their  doctrines  are  built.  The  powers  that  be 
have  always  called  the  brutal  forces  of  suppression  and  mob  rule  to  their 
assistance,  when  they  feared  that  their  initjuitous  systems  were  cninib- 
llng  to  pieces.  The  cry  of  enemies  of  society  have  been  raised  by  Nero 
and  Torquemada,  against  the  Christians  in  Rome,  against  the  Hugenots, 
the  Chartists.  They  have  been  fed  to  wild  beasts,  burnt  at  the  stake.  And 
the  Auto-da-f§  may  live  in  the  memory  of  many  a  zealous  clergyman  whose 
heart  longs  for  a  strenuous  attack  on  all  independent  thinkers. 

This  is  an  easy  way  of  getting  rid  of  one's  adversaries.  But  it  smacks 
so  much  of  the  despotism  of  former  ages  that  we  are  no  longer  deceived 
by  that  cry  of  enemies  of  society.  In  our  days  this  cry  has  been  raised 
particularly  against  the  Anarchist,  and,  in  a  lesser  degree,  against  the 
Socialist. 

Socialism  expresses  a  general  tendency  to  institute  organizations  of 
society  constructed  on  a  co-operative  basis  to  take  the  place  of  our  present 
organizations  of  a  competitive  system.  The  Fabians,  the  Single  Taxers, 
the  Anarchists,  the  Social  Democrats,  the  Christian  Socalists,  are  all  striving 
toward  the  goal  of  fraternity,  a  social  equality. 

Owing  to  the  numerical  strength  of  the  Social  Democrats  and  th« 
scope  of  their  political  activities,  the  public  is  more  familiar  with  their 
branch  of  Socialism  and  commonly  apply  to  them  the  general  term.  Socialists. 

Quoting  from  their  platform  adopted  in  New  York,  July  9,  1896,  we  fail 
to  find  anything  criminal  in  their  intentions : 

The  United  States  to  obtain  possession  of  the  mines,  rail- 
roads, canals,  telegraphs,  telephones,  and  all  other  means  of  pvblic  trans- 
portation and  communication,  the  employees  to  operate  the  same  cO' 
operatively  under  control  of  the  Federal  Government,  and  to  elect  thei^ 
oicn  superior  officers,  but  no  employee  shall  be  discharged  for  political 
reasons. 

The  municipalities  to  obtain  possession  of  the  local  railroads,  ferries. 


tcaterworks,  gasworks,  electric  plants,  and  all  industries  requiring  municipal 
franchises  J  the  employees  to  operate  the  same  co-operatively  under  control 
of  the  municipal  administration,  and  to  elect  their  officers;  hut  no  em- 
ployee shall  he  discharged   for  political  reasons. 

It  is  argued  that  the  control  exercised  by  the  federal  and  municipal  admin- 
istrations favors  a  paternalism  injurious  to  the  individual  development.  But 
the  paternalism  of  social  democracy,  to  the  masses,  is  a  benevolent  despotism, 
at  its  worst,  if  compared  to  that  of  industrial  feudalism  at  its  best.  A  so- 
cial democratic  State  or  commonwealth  would  provide  work,  shelter,  and  edu- 
cation, while  a  progressed  industrial  feudalism  would  reduce  the  competing 
workmen  to  the  physical  and  intellectual  state  of  the  coolie.  If  the  social 
democratic  organization  may  be  compared  to  a  workshop,  the  capitalist 
system  builds  a  prison.  In  the  first  one  is  supplied  with  work  and  kept 
under  a  rigid  supervision  to  effect  the  regulation  of  production  and  distribu- 
tion for  the  ostensible  benefit  of  all  concerned ;  in  the  latter  the  workmen 
are  arrayed  against  one  another  with  a  view  to  procuring  the  greatest  pos- 
sible profit  and  comfort  for  a  few  owners  and  their  satellites,  are  held  in 
subjection  by  an  armed  constabulary,  and,  by  an  ever  increasing  difficulty 
to  obtain  redress  in  the  courts  of  justice,  are  unable  to  express  their  griev- 
ances. Mr.  Hillquit,  a  lawyer  and  social  democrat,  at  the  protest-meeting 
at  Grand  Central  Palace,  following  the  brutal  attack  by  the  police  on  March 
28,  inst.,  asserted  that  the  Socialists  strictly  abide  by  the  laws  of  the  land, 
and  would  not  entertain  an  undertaking  in  defiance  of  law.  If  this  be  true, 
then  the  propaganda  by  the  press  and  the  authorities,  municipal  and  fed- 
eral, against  their  agitation  may  spring  from  the  fear  that  the  Socialists 
through  their  participation  in  politics  might  snatch  from  the  claws  of  plu- 
tocracy those  multitudes  whose  indolence  and  patience  foster  the  ideal  cap- 
italistic Feudalism. 

But,  if  this  be  the  case,  then  obedience  to  law  is  not  recognized  a  vir- 
tue by  the  authorities.  It  is  merely  a  pretense.  For  if  obedience  to  law 
were  a  virtue,  the  poor  worker  would  be  a  respected  citizen,  above  all;  the 
Socialists  were  held  up  as  the  ideals  of  mankind ;  whereas,  the  saloonkeeper, 
with  a  side  entrance  open  on  Sunday,  the  policeman  with  a  club  at  a 
peaceful  meeting,  St.  Anthony  poking  his  nose  into  other  people's  affairs, 
the  postmaster  abrogating  the  rights  of  free  press,  the  legis- 
lators working  in  the  sweat  of  the  lobby,  the  bankers  withholding 
an  accumulated  cash  until  granted  ten  per  cent.,  in  short,  all  non-productive 
elements  in  society  with  an  income  based  on  privileges  made  laws  for  un- 
lawful professions  would  be  criminals  and  treated  as  such. 

But  the  respect  for  these  laws  is  gradually  disappearing.  This  truth 
we  may  learn  even  from  the  press  that  is  mostly  interested  in  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  legal  oracle.  In  an  editorial  on  the  injustice  of  the  treatment 
of  the  poor  in  our  courts,  the  writer  has  this  to  say : 

"We  ask  these  people  to  have  respect  for  laAv.  How  CAN  they  have 
respect  for  the  kind  of  law  that  locks  up  the  innocent  because  he  is  poor 
and  simply  as  a  matter  of  convenience,  and  sets  the  criminal  free  because 
some  other  criminal— oft  high  in  polities— is  willing  to  go  on  his  bond?" 
— Evening  Journal.  April  15. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  the  average  man  does  not  care  to  pain- 
fully obey  the  laws  but  to  successfully  evade  the  laws.     No  ordinary  man 


knows  the  laws  of  his  country.  Neither  do  the  courts  interpret  the  laws  in 
the  same  way.  Law  is  forever  a  matter  of  dispute  between  lawyers,  and  a 
source  of  revenue  for  professional  twisters  of  legal  opinions.  To  a  majority 
of  the  people  a  great  many  laws  seem  unjust  in  that  they  discriminate 
against  the  personal  liberty  of  those  whose  views  on  moral  or  religious  or 
economic  questions  differ  from  the  point  taken  by  the  framers  of  legislation, 
whose  range  of  knowledge  of  men  and  things  is  usually  very  small.  The 
conviction  that  many  laws  are  the  product  of  cowardice  and  hysteria  fills 
others  with  a  contempt  for  them.  The  knowledge  that  many  legal  attain- 
ments swell  the  stocks  of  the  few  and  empty  the  pockets  of  the  dependent 
people  fortifies  a  determined  conscience  to  defend  at  least  in  its  own  acts 
the  promise  of  the  Constitution  to  procure  general  welfare. 

If  all  the  laws  were  enforced,  business  soon  would  come  to  a  standstill ; 
for  many  laws  are  made  only  as  a  source  of  revenue  for  ofiices  created.  If 
all  regulations  were  obeyed,  the  brains  of  the  people  soon  would  stop  work- 
ing. If  they  were  not  obeyed,  yet  were  made  to  be  followed,  the  greatest 
part  of  the  population  should  be  under  lock  and  chain.  If  all  incorporated 
associations  had  honest  detectives  to  watch  over  the  people  and  were  to 
call  on  the  police  and  district-attorney  to  assist  them  in  raiding,  and  arrest- 
ing, there  soon  would  rise  a  conflagration  consuming  the  feuds  between  the 
ministers,  lawyers,  boards  of  health,  of  fire,  of  medical  as.sociations,  etc., 
etc.,  and  out  of  the  ashes  would  emerge  strife  among  the  remnants  of  law- 
fearing  citizens,  and  from  warring  upon  supposed  crime  they  would  turn 
to  warring  upon  themselves;  so  much  would  they  be  in  each  other's  way. 
But  they  would  find  out  that  law  is  a  maze,  the  entanglement  of  which  is 
enough  to  confuse  any  mind,  sane  or  insane. 

Laws,  to  a  great  extent,  are  made  contrary  to  the  natural  and  healthy 
inclinations  of  man.  Law,  then,  is  an  artifice,  foreign  to  the  structure  of 
natural  organization ;  it  is  a  crown  of  thorns  pressed  on  the  head  of  the 
vital  interests  of  humanity. 

Concluding  an  article  on  the  Raines  law.  Judge  Furlong  has  this  to 
say :  That  our  present  liquor  tase  law  should  hMve  so  long  been  tried  and 
so  long  been  found  wanting,  without  the  uprising  of  our  citizens,  is  but  an- 
other indication  of  the  apathy  and  patience  of  the  American  public  under 
wrongs  that  elsewhere  might  produce  riots  and  revolution. — The  Civic  Union, 
Brooklyn,  May  14,  1908. 

Is  obedience  to  law  a  virtue?  Or  is  it  rather  a  crime  in  view  of  the 
evil  resulting  therefrom,  both  in  stifling  man's  active  participation  in  the 
well-being  of  his  community  and  in  sustaining  wrongs  committed  by  those 
in    authority? 

Of  all  laws  that  are  least  regarded  and  most  to  be  desired  in  a  com- 
munity built  on  wage-earning  are  those  securing  the  life  and  possessions  of 
the  working  classes.  The  increase  in  murder,  theft,  burglary  is  felt  in  their 
quarters  far  more  than  elsewhere;  accidents  in  the  workshops  are  killing 
and  maiming  them.  The  police  and  judiciary,  with  very  few  exceptions,  are 
unwilling  or  unable  to  cope  with  the  situation.  The  manufacturers  hold 
the  lives  of  their  prey  too  cheap  and  care  not  for  their  safety  in  the  shops 
and  at  the  machines.  And  when  the  Socialists  pointing  out  these  cruelties 
in  modern  industry,  are  urging  the  working  people  to  join  their  ranks,  in 
order  to  work  the  industries  cooperatively  under  the  control  of  a  benevolent 


administration,  is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  they  meet  with  a  hearty  response 
from  the  tortured  masses? 

CRIME  AND  THE  ANARCHISTS. 

Every  conceivable  crime  has  been  ascribed  to  the  Anarchists,  but  not  one 
has  been  fastened  upon  Anarchism.  President  Roosevelt  exclaimed  that 
every  question  of  the  day  paled  in  significance  as  compared  to  that  of 
Anarchism.  Is  it  so?  Or  is  the  utterance  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  to  be 
understood  in  the  light  of  development  toward  centralization  of  power 
and   limitation   of  freedom? 

The  Anarchist  is  the  logical  enemy  of  centralization,  he  is  the  natural 
foe  of  ruling  by  force.  He  hopes  for  a  society  in  which  a  sublime  feeling 
of  fraternity  will  pervade  a  self-reliant  people  as  an  incentive  to  work  in 
mutual  aid;  history  and  natural  history  sustain  him  in  his  philosophy.  Men 
and  associations  will  combine  for  mutual  aid  and  cooperative  work ;  they 
will  not  be  under  the  control  of  an  administration  with  ruling  powers ;  for 
power  over  a  fellow-man  breeds  brutality  and  is  apt  to  give  birth  to  tyran- 
nical institutions.  Men  of  an  association  will  learn  to  adjust  things  them- 
selves, they  will  enter  treaties,  as  it  were,  with  other  associations  for  the 
exchange  of  goods  or  material.  Those  who  desire  to  live  under  communism, 
might  form  leagues  of  that  nature ;  those  who  reject  communism,  might 
work  out  their  own  salvation.  But  there  shall  be  no  forcible  interference  with 
the  economical,  moral,  or  political  life  of  any  man ;  there  should  be  no  estab- 
lishment of  a  legislature,  an  army,  or  other  institution  threatening  the  lib- 
erty of  the  people.  In  the  emergency  of  a  dispute  arising  between  individuals 
or  associations  those  concerned  shall  directly,  without  the  interference  of 
outsiders,   arrive  to  a  settlement  of  their  differences. 

Education  and  environment,  the  Anarchist  claims,  shape  the  nature  of 
a  people.  Liberty  makes  man  generous.  And  if  conditions  can  be  created, 
that  make  man  reliant  on  the  resources  of  his  intellect  and  sympathy,  so- 
ciety will  not  be  found  lacking  in  trust  and  assistance. 

Prince  Kropotkin,  writing  on  Anarchist  Morality,  says :  The  dis- 
tinction .  .  .  between  egoism  and  altruism  is  ahsurd  in  our  eyes.  That 
is  why  toe  have  said  nothing  of  the  compromise  that  man,  if  we  are  to  believe 
the  utilitariuns,  is  always  making  between  his  egoistic  and  altruistic  senti- 
ments. Such  compromise  can  have  no  existence  for  the  man  who  knows  his 
own  mind.  What  really  takes  place  in  the  present  condition  of  life,  if  we 
teek  to  live  in  conformity  with  our  principles  of  equality,  is  that  at  every 
step  we  feel  them  outraged.  (Chapter  X).  Reviewing  his  argumentation, 
he  concludes  in  the  same  chapter :  We  have  seen  the  kind  of  morality  which 
is  even  now  shaping  itself  in  the  ideas  of  the  masses  and  of  the  thinkers. 
This  morality  will  issue  no  commands.  It  will  refuse  once  and  for  all  to 
model  individuals  according  to  an  abstract  idea,  as  it  will  refuse  to  mutilate 
them  by  religion,  law,  or  government.  It  will  leave  to  the  individual  man  full 
and  perfect  liberty.  It  toill  be  but  a  simple  record  of  facts,  a  science.  And 
this  science  will  say  to  man:  ^'If  you  are  not  conscious  of  strength  within 
you,  if  your  energies  are  only  just  sufficient  to  maintain  a  colorless,  monot- 
onous life,  without  strong  impressions,  without  deep  joys,  but  also  without 
deep  sorrows,  keep  to  the  simple  principles  of  a  just  equality.    In  relation  to 


equality  j/ow  usiU  find  probably  the  maximum  of  happiness  possible  to  your 
feeble  energies. 

But  if  you  feel  within  you  the  strength  of  youth,  if  you  xcish  to  live, 
if  you  icish  to  enjoy  a  perfect,  full  and  overfloxcing  life — that  m,  know  the 
highest  pleasures  which  a  living  being  can  enjoy — be  strong,  be  great,  be 
vigorous  in  all  of  you. 

Sow  life  around  you.  Take  heed  that  if  you  deceive,  lie.  intrigue,  cheat, 
you  thereby  demean  yourself,  confess  your  own  weakness  beforehand,  play 
the  part  of  the  slave  of  the  harem,  who  feels  himself  the  inferior  of  the 
masters. 

Are  such  utterances  not  worthy  of  emulation?  Are  these  appeals  to 
everything  that  is  noble  in  us,  made  by  a  recognized  leader  of  communist- 
anarchist  thought,  criminal,  as  our  Chief-Magistrate  would  make  us  believe? 

Outrages  recently  committed  in  the  United  States  have  been  ascribed, 
directly  and  indirectly,  to  Anarchists.  But  upon  investigation  it  was  shown 
that  in  the  case  of  two  western  occurrences  neither  of  the  accused  was  an 
anarchist  or  had  been  moved  to  his  acts  by  the  perusal  of  anarchistic  liter- 
ature. And  the  connection  of  the  New  York  anarchist  with  the  bomb- 
throwing  on  Union  Square  is  of  a  very  flimsy  nature  and  open  to  well- 
founded  suspicion.  But  if  we  turn  to  Spain,  the  historical  battlefield  of  the 
Anarchists,  we  find  that  bomb-throwing  and  the  like  outrages  have  been  the 
work  of  the  secret  jwlice.  The  Black  Hand  (Manu  ncra)  for  a  long  time 
filled  Spain  with  terror,  the  Anarchists  withal  being  taken  for  the  perpe- 
trators of  those  heinous  crimes  until  at  last  it  came  to  light  that  no  such 
society  had  existed,  that  the  secret  iwlice  had  invented  this  devilish  chimera 
in  order  to  drive  the  people  to  fury  against  the  Anarchists,  the  supiwsed 
actors  in  this  drama.  And  recently,  about  a  month  ago,  another  crime  of  the 
secret  police  was  unearthed  there ;  an  agent  of  the  police  having  joined  the 
ranks  of  some  Anarchists  in  order  to  provoke  them  to  untoward  acts,  upon 
failing  to  accomplish  his  ends,  manufactured  and  exploded  bombs  in  vari- 
ous sections  of  the  land,  thus  uncovering  "contemplated  assassinations  and 
assaults"  and  making  a  profitable  income  thereby.  *  Such  occurrences  are 
of  so  frequent  a  nature  that  it  has  become  proverbial  to  look  at  the  bomb- 
thrower  as  an  agent  of  the  police  The  late  Governor  Altgeld  exonerated 
in  a  lengthy  brief  the  Anarchists  hanged  in  Chicago  from  a  connection  with 
the  bomb-throwing  on  the  hay  market,  1887.  Czolgocz's  deed  belongs  in  a 
class  for  itself.  Whether  he  was  an  Anarchist  or  not  is  an  open  question. 
Anarchist  or  no,  he  was  moved  by  the  same  kind  of  patriotism  that  directed 
the  hands  of  Brutus  or  Booth.  A  vital  and  sudden  change  in  national  and 
imperialist  policies  was  apt  to  react  on  men  with  firm  convictions  and 
strong  passions  in  a  compulsory  manner.  Brutus  and  Booth  thought 
the  interests  of  their  countries  outraged,  and  employed  forcible  means  in  an 
endeavor  to  awaken  the  public  conscience.  The  act  of  Czolgocz  may  be, 
with  equal  justice,  explained  in  like  manner. 

But  granted  that  the  Anarchists  did  engage  in  violent  propaganda  as  a 
means  of  calling  the  attention  of  the  world  to  inhuman  conditions,  the 
amelioration  of  which  is  comparatively  easy  of  accomplishment,  but  opposed 
to  by  those  who  profit  by  them.  The  responsibility  for  such  acts  rests 
with  a  society  that  does  not  permit  the  free  development  of  ideas  and  ob- 

•Trial  in  Barcelona  of  one  Rull  whom  the  Governor  of  Barcelona  admitted  as  hav- 
ing been  in  his  emplo]r. 


structs  the  open  passage  of  a  social  movement.  If  you  desire  violence,  re- 
strict freedom.     If  you  have  freedom,  i)eace  is  at  hand. 

Society,  in  permitting  a  government  to  regulate  the  relations  of  its 
citizens  and  the  general  welfare  of  all  classes  in  a  community,  charges  there- 
by the  government  with  the  duty  to  care  for  those  under  its  protection.  If 
the  government  fails  in  its  task,  society  ought  to  replace  it  with  another  gov- 
ernment, provided  it  is  not  to  get  along  without  one.  If  society  fails  in  this, 
individuals  must  remind  it  that  in  taking  from  men  the  rights  to  govern 
themselves  and  laying  their  welfare  in  the  hands  of  a  criminal  government, 
society  has  played  the  role  of  a  traitor  on  the  individual,  that  from  the  gov- 
ernment being  a  lessee  has  risen  a  government  with  a  slave-driver's  whip  in 
hand,  who  usurps  the  ownership  of  men  and  the  settlement  of  affairs. 

But  above  all,  this  government  has  no  right  to  decry  violent  actions 
since  it  rose  to  power  and  holds  its  prestige  through  violence.  A  teacher 
ridicules  himself  by  upbraiding  his  scholars  for  brutalities  they  have  learned 
from  the  master.  President  Roosevelt,  to  argue  for  a  greater  navy,  insists 
that  the  pride  of  a  nation  and  the  honor  of  etc.,  etc.,  relies  on  the  backing  of 
might.  Very  well,  then,  this  may  be  also  the  view  of  the  Anarchist  who  has 
no  other  way  of  settling  the  dispute  between  himself  and  the  State.  Why, 
then,  hiss  the  propagandist,  if  he  be  an  Anarchist,  and  cheer  the  agitator, 
if  he  chances  to  be  a  republican,  since  both  arrive  in  their  philosophy  of 
might  and  right  at  the  same  conclusion?  If  a  difference  of  a  degree  of  merit 
there  be,  that  weighs  heavier  to  the  credit  of  the  Anarchist.  For  while  he  is 
moved  to  his  acts  by  the  desire  to  free  the  people  from  burdens  of  taxation 
and  exploitation,  the  jwlitician  is  using  all  means  in  his  power  to  increase 
the  public  expenditures  and  to  impose  new  rules ;  while  the  first  offers 
his  own  earnings  and  life  on  the  altar  of  an  ideal,  the  latter  disposes  of 
the  earnings  and  lives  of  others  for  the  sake  of  power. 

John  Most,  supposedly  an  avowed  advocate  of  violence  as  a  means 
for  propaganda,  defines  in  unmistakable  terms  the  harm  done  to  the  cause  of 
Anarchism  by  acts  of  violence  undertaken  without  the  object  of  liberation  in 
view  and  without  any  tangible  chances  of  success  for  the  liberation  of  so- 
ciety from  any  of  its  forms  of  tyranny.*  Yet  anarchism  and  crime  are 
constantly  mentioned  in  one  breath,  as  though  anarchism  meant  crime  and 
crime  anarchism ;  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  crime  is  growing  more  rampant 
as  the  power  of  the  district-attorney  and  police  commissioner  are  increasing 
in  dimensions.  A  wave  of  unpunished  crime  always  follows  a  refusal  to 
grant  them  more  money  and  men,  and  precedes  each  request  for  them. 
In  fact,  the  only  people  that  need  to  be  in  fear  of  the  police  and  the  district- 
attorney's  ofiice  are  those  aware  of  the  injustices  wrought  and  arrayed  against 
them,  and  those  who  are  in  the  employ  of  the  wealthy.  The  lowest  strata 
of  society,  the  criminal  rich  and  the  professional  thieves  need  not  fear  them ; 
the  first  because  the  respect  for  the  rich  must  be  maintained  the  same  as 
that  for  the  decisions  of  the  courts — at  all  hazards,  to  prevent  the  down- 
fall of  the  iniquitous  system;**  the  second,  because  of  their  show  of  deter- 


*  Attentats- Reflexionen.    Freiheit.    August    28,    1892. 

**Governor  Johnson,  whose  nomination  for  the  Presidency  is  being  urged  by  such 
influences  as  the  World,  is  reported  as  saying  that  the  decisions  of  the  courts  must  be 
respected,  even  if  unjust.  An  ideal  President!  Could  there  be  a  greater  encourage- 
ment   to    unjust   decisions    than    such    utterances? 


mination,  they  must  be  left  to  wnr  on  llieir  unfortunate  fellow-men  rather 
than  be  given  n  chance  to  openly  attack  the  phitocrncy. 

But  are  we  because  of  the  conne<-tion  of  a  man  with  a  class,  a  move- 
ment, a  church,  to  accuse  them  of  crime  committed  by  one  of  their  members? 
Are  we  to  call  the  police  an  association  of  burglars  because  members  of  the 
force  have  been  found  guilty  of  aiding  and  abetting  in  burglary?  Are  we 
to  call  the  Roman  Catholics  murderers  because  in  the  month  of  April  two 
most  dastardly  murdersf  by  Roman  Catholic  priests  in  Italy  have  come  to 
light? 

Confusion  reigns  supreme,  llie  attack  on  Anarchism  is  really  an  at- 
tack on  thought,  an  attack  on  self-reliance.  The  minds  of  the  people  are 
being  confused,  and  once  thoir  apathy  pcrmit.s  the  gagging  of  a  class 
against  which  they  have  been  prejudiced,  the  conspiracy  against  their  free 
expressions  of  disapproval  of  usurpations  of  power  will  soon  unmask  its  face. 

Meanwhile  government  is  linked  with  ignorance  as  freedom  with  knowl- 
edge. Its  despotism  can  be  likened  to  the  doings  of  a  rageful  woman  who 
is  whipping  her  child  on  the  street  and  under  the  gaze  of  a  generally  in- 
different populace.  She  throws  her  offspring  on  the  back,  slaps  it  in  the 
face,  kicks  it  in  the  belly,  and,  in  fear  lest  someone  might  be  aroused  to 
take  the  child  from  her  fury,  drags  it  into  a  dark  hallway  wiiere  she  may 
do  things  nobody  can  witness.  And  this  is  called  justice,  and  justice  is  called 
charit-able,  and  charity  is  suppo.sed  to  be  an  attribute  to  civilization,  and 
civilization  means  the  height  of  culture,  and  culture  the  possession  of 
knowledge,  the  development  of  man's  faculties,  the  subserviency  of  natural 
forces  to  the  welfare  of  humanity,  and  .  .  .  But  let  it  be  enough.  Justice 
is  nothing  of  that  sort.  She  is  a  rageful  woman,  deaf  to  the  heartaches  of 
the  weak,  blind  to  the  wounds  of  the  sick.  She  knows  no  charity,  and  the 
civilization  she  adores  is  that  of  the  raiment;  culture  to  her  is  wealth,  and 
the  welfare  of  humanity  is  meted  out  by  her  according  to  the  price  paid  in 
money.  Tliis  justice  is  the  justice  of  government.  Rut,  in  spite  of  Roose- 
velt, man  was  before  government,  and,  in  spite  of  government,  man  will 
survive  its  justice. 

AWAKE ! 

We  must  needs  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  restrictions  on  free 
speech,  on  immigration,  on  citizenship;  the  increase  in  military  prowess, 
in  crimes  against  the  poor  and  the  middle  class  by  gangs  of  professionals, 
and  by  the  lords  of  exploitation ;  the  growth  of  the  wealth  and  influence 
of  the  Churches ;  the  dissemination  of  prejudice,  are  one  lon^  chain 
wherewith  the  enslavement  of  the  masses  is  to  be  performed. 

The  more  the  masses  will  look  up  to  "Washington  for  amelioration  of 
their  conditions,  the  stronger  will  the  institution  of  centralized  power 
become.  In  view  of  the  historical  fact  that  the  grossest  injustice  assumed 
the  noblest  insignia  to  cover  the  dark  thoughts  in  its  breast,  it  is  rational 
that  the  suppression  of  liberties  be  covered  with  bighsounding  phrases. 


t  Priest  de  Lenibo,  accused  of  treacherously  killing  one  Spagnoli.  of  whose  wife 
the  divine  was  jealous.  Brother  Valeriano,  from  the  Capucines  in  Naples,  accused  ot 
grand  larceny  and  murder  by  poison. 


It  is  already  a  popular  belief  that  oflRce  carries  graft  and  graft  office, 
and  it  is  high  time  that  the  people  realize  the  deception  practiced  on  them. 
Instead  of  applying  for  assistance  against  their  various  oppressors  to  the 
authorities  in  whom  they  have  no  faith,  the  workmen  must  needs  co-operate 
to  help  themselves.  And  since  the  vote  is  an  avenue  to  deception  and 
oppression,  the  workmen  should  keep  away  from  the  voting  booths. 

Citizenship  has  been  made  dependable  on  the  value  of  the  pocketbook 
and  a  man's  political  convictions.  Citizenship  has  been  thus  made  depend- 
able on  stealth  and  lie.  Its  worth  has  been  lowered.  A  prize  has  been  set 
on  cowardice,  for  he  who  shall  lie  may  become  a  citizen.  It  is  far  nobler 
to  do  the  duties  of  an  honorable  man  than  share  in  the  privileges  of  a  caste. 

All  energies  and  possessions  in  money  and  labor  should  be  spent  on 
erecting  homes  of  the  various  crafts,  however  small  in  the  beginning,  with 
the  view  of  closer  association  and  direct  benefit.  Groups  should  combine 
for  co-operative  work  with  a  view  to  the  beginning  of  communistic 
production  and  enjoyment  of  the  fruit  of  their  labor.  If  all  money  thrown 
away  by  workmen  for  political  action,  for  salaries  of  leaders,  for  rent,  for 
the  profits  of  middle-men,  for  bureaus,  etc.,  were  to  be  used  for  the  economic 
emancipation  of  labor,  however  small  and  hard  the  start  may  be,  the  work- 
man soon  would  outgrow  all  hardships  of  non-employment,  and  at  last,  never 
resting  in  his  agitation  for  self-reliance  of  the  class  and  the  mutual  in- 
terest of  the  worker,  would  own  to  what  he  is  justly  entitled. 

All  hope  for  clean  politics  is  vain.  The  essence  of  all  institutions  is 
fed  by  a  system  of  espionage.  If  you  bear  no  witness  against  your  fellow 
man,  if  you  do  not  spy  on  his  acts  and  intentions,  if  you  do  not  watch  hi^^ 
movements  in  trade  and  business,  the  courts  and  competition  are  at  a  stand- 
still. But  while  this  system  of  espionage  is  a  necessary  implement  to  hold 
the  modern  state  together,  it  is  corrupting  the  faculties  of  man,  blotting  his 
soul  with  shame,  killing  his  love  for  the  fellow  man.  And  thus  brought  up 
from  childhood  and  contending  with  such  evils  during  all  his  life,  man 
becomes  unconsciously  hardened  against  the  noblest  sentiments  of  humanity, 
and  accessible  to  all  influences  of  corruption.  The  system  of  espionage 
thus  breeds  corruption. 

Environment,  as  we  have  set  forth  in  a  previous  chapter,  shapes 
the  nature  of  man  ;  it  is  a  silent  educator.  And  Mr.  Angell,  the  president  of 
the  Massachusetts  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  in 
sketching  the  character  of  President  Roosevelt,  has  this  truth  in  mind  when 
he  says  in  Our  Dumb  Animals : 

If,  in  his  boyhood.  President  Roosevelt  had  been  humanely  educated  in 
a  hand  of  mercy,  probably  he  would  have  written  very  differently  about  the 
starving  cattle  on  Western  ranches,  and  the  shooting  of  animals  simply 
for  the  fun  of  wounding  and  killing  them.  He  would  not  be  so  anxious 
to  put  rifles  into  the  hands  of  American  school  boys  that  they  might  be 
better  prepared  to  shoot  human  beings,  and  he  icould  not  be  engaged  in 
his  present  controversy  with  Rev.  William  J.  Long,  whose  charming  stories 
of  animal  life  are  giving  pleasure  to  thousands  of  readers. 

We  tried  very  hard  to  prevent  Mr.  Roosevelt  being  Assistant  Secretary 
of  the  Navy  because — as  we  wrote  Gov.  Long — we  felt  sure  if  he  received 
that  appointment,  we  should  get  into  war  with  something  about  something. 


UCSB  LIBRARY 


We  failed  and  the  Cuban  and  Philippine  wars  have  coat  thousands  of  Uvea, 
hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars,  an  enormous  increase  in  our  pension  list, 
and  the  end  is  not  yet. 

We  cannot  help  thinking  of  the  President  as  a  powder  mill,  liable  at 
any  time  to  explode  and  do  vast  damage,  and  we  most  earnestly  wish — at 
we  suggested  some  months  ago — that  he  might  have  in  his  Cabinet  as  "Sec- 
retary of  Peace"  some  strong  man  to  "whose  wise  counsels  he  would  respect- 
fully listen,"  so  that  he  may  studiously  avoid  everything  which  would  plunge 
nation  into  another  war. 

Roosevelt  icent  afield  armed  to  the  teeth  with  a  repeating 
rifle,  etc.  His  books  are  steeped  in  the  blood  of  wanton  slaughter,  and  he 
revels  in  the  telling  of  the  wounding  of  beasts,  the  kilUng  of  fawns  and 
mother  animals,  and  of  the  disregard  of  the  umcritten  laws  of  camp  life 

in  shooting  camp  confines. 

•         •         • 

Let  us  not  be  deceived  as  to  the  real  meaning  of  these  hard  times  and 
the  succession  of  rpstrictions  on  liberty.  It  behooves  us,  above  all,  to  raise 
our  voice  in  mighty  denunciation  of  the  attacks  on  our  own  rights  as  men 
and  women  of  an  enlightened  age.  Our  voice  will  be  heard  when  it  shall 
not  be  dumped  into  ballot  boxes  but  cried  out  in  the  open  to  carry  it  to  the 
ears  of  our  oppressors.  They  look  with  silent  contempt  or  pleasure  at  the 
ballot-box,  but  they  will  tremble  when  our  voices  are  heard : 

Repeal  your  despotic  measures ;  hearken  to  the  pangs  of  hunger ! 

Let  us  open  our  eyes  to  the  misery  of  the  subjected  colonies.  Let  us 
recognize  the  injustice  they  suffer  from  our  hands,  let  us  rectify  the  promises 
we  have  broken,  let  us  investigate  how  much  the  enslavement  of  these 
foreign  peoples  has  had  to  do  with  the  enslavement  of  ourselves,  how  much 
to  the  exploitation  in  the  colonies  are  due  the  hardships  at  home. 

And  ere  we  strive  toward  the  realization  of  a  reconstruction  of  society, 
let  us  not  forget  that  we  must  strive  toward  breaking  the  chains  that  try  to 
fasten  on  our  intellect.  Only  then  is  the  human  mind  creative  of  greatness, 
both,  in  pleasure  and  worry.  The  intellect  in  pleasure  is  like  the  day  on 
which  a  clear  sky  shines;  the  fogs  of  prejudice  and  superstition  and  fear 
have  receded.  And  the  intellect  of  a  free  mind  in  worry  is  like  a  stormy 
night  illumined  by  stars  of  hopes  and  thoughts  and  sympathy. 

Awake,  workers,  to  hope  and  thought  and  sympathy! 

And  then  you  will  act  directly  in  your  behalf,  and  establish  a  truly 
free  commonwealth. 


"'s^-' 


'^■>fi 


'i- ;*'i. 


